The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

'. . . there were schools under the same authority, whichhad whole classes learning instruments and paintingwith fervour.' (Freeman, 1979)She found it difficult to believe that 'aesthetic talent istruly definable by school catchment area'. All of these'aesthetically impoverished' children were from economicallypoor areas:'.. . and neither parents nor teachers were seen to besufficiently motivated to foster anything that was notconsidered to be essentially education.' (Freeman, 1979)This is an echo of what James Hemmings (1980) callsthe 'academic illusion'. The final area of constraint derivespartly from this. These are the pressures of the examinationsystem.101 Examinations102 Theneed fora policyWe will deal more fully with the question of assessment andexamination in the next chapter. We can note here that theexamination system, as it operates in many schools, restrictsthe arts in two ways. First, it can encourage forms of assessmentwhich are not compatible with much of what is achievedin the arts. This can affect the way they are taught — themore readily examined areas of work being given greateremphasis. Second, pupils are often not inclined to takecourses in the upper secondary school which do not givethem usable qualifications. Both factors can affect thestatus of the arts and reduce provision.There is no reason to assume, said the Schools' Council in1975, 3 that the objectives of the different departments ina school add up to a set of objectives for the whole curriculum.Indeed, where curricula are so fragmented, it isdifficult to see how this could be so. We share the view ofboth The School Curriculum (DBS, 1981) and The PracticalCurriculum (Schools Council, 1981) that all schools need toevolve a general curriculum policy:'. . . a framework of principles within which individualteachers, teams or departments can consider how bestthey might each contribute to the whole curriculum.'(Schools Council, 1975, p24)In some authorities the processes of consultation thisrequires are well in hand. In others they are just beginning.We welcome these moves towards more co-ordinated curricula.We would emphasise two points. First, insofar as the65